Jennifer Lopez speaks out about her own sexual harassment #MeToo experience
We've learned that no amount of star power protected women in entertainment from the industry's pervasive sexual harassment problem. Even triple threat Jennifer Lopez dealt with her own #MeToo experience.
In a Harper's Bazaar profile, Lopez discussed the long arc of her career, as well as her on-going support for the Time's Up and #MeToo movement.
When asked about how it's affected her personally, she said, "I haven’t been abused in the way some women have. But have I been told by a director to take off my shirt and show my boobs? Yes, I have. But did I do it? No, I did not."
It's a testament to just how abhorrent entertainment industry work environments are that this harassment is considered one of the "lesser" forms of abuse.
Echoing many of other #MeToo stories, Lopez said standing up for herself was a huge career risk. Especially for a young, unestablished actresses -- who are the most vulnerable to these patterns of behavior:
"When I did speak up, I was terrified. I remember my heart beating out of my chest, thinking, ‘What did I do? This man is hiring me!’ It was one of my first movies. But in my mind I knew the behavior wasn’t right. It could have gone either way for me. But I think ultimately the Bronx in me was like, 'Nah, we’re not having it.'"
We're relieved to hear that, at least in this case, Lopez was able to avoid the situation with her career intact. But it's also important to note that it's not for a lack of strength that others survivors of sexual harassment, assault, and abuse cannot or do not speak up. Each instance of sexual abuse in Hollywood has shown how women are put in impossible situations, where they lose no matter what they do.
Lopez has not only been an outspoken supporter of #MeToo since the beginning, but also an activist for vulnerable and mistreated people outside of Hollywood.
When hurricane Irma left Puerto Rico in dire need of disaster relief, Lopez helped in a big way. Aside from donating $1 million to efforts to rebuild Puerto Rico, she gave a speech demonstrating how these two battles are about the same thing: advocating for everyone's inalienable human rights.
Entertainment Weekly resurfaced the speech Lopez gave two months ago while in Puerto Rico, and wearing black in solidarity with the Time's Up red carpet protests.
"A lot of the women with #TimesUp are standing up for equality, to be treated equally," she said. "And I stand here today in black, doing the same from far away. And it’s the same thing here in Puerto Rico: We want to be treated equally."
Topics Activism Social Good
Jess is an LA-based culture critic who covers intimacy in the digital age, from sex and relationship to weed and all media (tv, games, film, the web). Previously associate editor at Kill Screen, you can also find her words on Vice, The Atlantic, Rolling Stone, Vox, and others. She is a Brazilian-Swiss American immigrant with a love for all things weird and magical.
